The Punishment

by Louis Lopez





© 2023 by Louis Lopez. Written in 1992.
All rights reserved. It is allowed to reproduce and distribute copies of this book PROVIDED that (1) full credit is given to the author Louis Lopez, (2) it is copied exactly as found here without any alterations to the wording and (3) no more than $20 is charged for each copy.





A man and a woman were walking in the middle of the desert, but it wasn't clear where they were going. There were no settlements of any kind to be seen for miles nor a single road. It was late morning but already the hot summer sun was forcing gnawing droplets of sweat from their pores. The young couple looked confused with no specific destination in mind except a general eastward direction. They carried nothing at all. He was naked to the waist and his legs were also bare with only leaves covering his private parts. She looked the same except her breasts were covered.

Occasionally they would look back longingly at a large verdant area in the middle of the desert from which they were apparently walking. The area was full of beautiful, exotic trees and plants of different kinds and a euphonious, cheerful chorus of birds could be heard for miles.

"This is horrible. I didn't realize how good we had it in there," the woman said. "Not a worry in the world and now we don't even know where our next meal is coming from."

"I don't know why you had to get the bright idea of fooling with that apple," the man complained. "I knew we'd done wrong but didn't imagine He would get that mad."

"Yeah, he always seemed so nice and kind and understanding. I figured he would have punished us by making us rake leaves or maybe dig out a new pond."

"Except that the place never needed anything done to it. It had everything necessary. It was literally perfect."

"Yeah, that's right. I wonder what that plant there would taste like," she pondered as she pointed to a short, lone weed that was turning dry.

"I don't know. We'd definitely have to make sure to take off all the thorns. I guess we'll have to take our chances eating a lot of these weeds and hope they don't make us sick."

The woman looked back wistfully once again at the beautiful oasis behind them, receding ever farther into the distance, and asked, "How long do you think he'll keep us out of there?"

"I don't know. He was pretty upset."

"Still, it wasn't like it was that bad a thing. We were never disrespectful to him. We always showed our gratitude for all he had done for us and we said we were sorry."

"Yeah, he can't stay mad that long. He'll probably come get us after a couple of months. We'll have suffered enough in that time."

"If we can survive that long," she exclaimed. "We don't have any idea what to do."

"I can't see him keeping us out more than six months. He can't be that mean."

"A year at the most."

THE END

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